Thursday, January 26, 2012

Newspaper Fiction: The New York Journalism of Djuna Barnes, 1913–1919 is an exploration of the early journalistic career of American writer and women’s rights advocate Djuna Barnes. Though best known for her modernist novels and plays, including Nightwood (1936) and The Antiphon (1958), Barnes spent the period between 1913 and her departure for Europe in 1921 living in New York’s Greenwich Village and working as a writer and illustrator for publications including the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and Vanity Fair.

Monday, January 23, 2012

This handsome volume collects three stories of private detective John Blacksad. The first, "Somewhere Within the Shadows" finds him investigating the murder of an old flame. The second, "Arctic Nation," is an exploration of racism and corruption. "Red Soul" is pure Red Scare. And it's all tight, boilerplate noir, wrenching itself from panel to panel in a dreamy, watercolor city.

Dark Horse has a preview available here but really, you need to settle into these stories, hold the book in your hand and appreciate its tremendous artwork from up close. The creators have rightfully won loads of acclaim, from three Eisner nominations to the Angoulême Prize for Artwork. May their fantastic successes continue because their fourth story "The Hell, the Silence" needs to be translated and printed stateside, stat.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

"I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content."

Monday, January 9, 2012

One of my favorite things a bookstore has ever done is Word's personals bulletin board. It's a great bookstore and this was a clever, kind idea. From time to time, I wonder how things work out for the people who use it and whether they also cross-post on Missed Connections. To that end, I have collected a handful of recent bookish posts, to encourage love between readers. Are any of these you?

Browing in the Bookstore on Bleeker - m4m - 46 (Inwood / Wash Hts) Date: 2012-01-08, 11:49PM EST
I was browsing at Book and Book on Friday night, at the front of the store, and looked up because I felt myself in someone's glance. You were shorter than me, sharply dressed. I was wearing a long raincoat over a jacket and bow tie. I'm out of practice flirting, but thought about you since, though the encounter was brief. Drop a line if you see this, and tell me one more thing about what I was wearing, and something about what you were wearing, so I'll know it was you.Kafka on the L Train - w4m - 25 (Heading to Williamsburg)Date: 2012-01-06, 12:01AM EST
You had blonde hair and wore a knit hat with glasses. I had a huge knitted scarf. We chatted a bit about my book of Kafka's short stories and I made fun of your giant 15lb. weight. When we said adieu at Bedford, you gave me a semi-awkward hi-five. I thought you were adorable. Hope to run into you again on the L train :)

6pm-ish G train, cute Paul Auster-reading guy - w4m (G train, Hoyt - Clinton)Date: 2012-01-04, 6:50PM EST
Never tried missed connections, but I regret not starting a conversation on the train--you (m) :tall, brown eyes and hair, reading Paul Auster but facing me (f): medium-height, long auburn hair, hazel eyes, red scarf and huge black mittens. A guy reading Auster has to be interesting. Which book was it? And to confirm that it's you, what make and color bag were you carrying?

Monday, January 2, 2012

I laid Dickens aside for years after Hard Times. Our Mutual Friend has been calling out to me about as long. References to it are tucked away everywhere: books I read, television I watch. Time to take it down from the shelf and keep a promise to myself.

A formidable runner-up was Don Quixote, waiting in the wings forever. However, I'm still not ready to accept Cervantes into my life. Another year of living, first? That window is just not open yet.

What are your books? Interested to see what other people have on their docket? Use the tag #resoLITions, courtesy of Pantheon Books. Then, come into any of our stores and take a look around for your year's assignment.

We are a local chain of independent bookstores. Our shops are in close proximity to major universities in the NYC area including Baruch College, Brooklyn College, Cooper Union, NYU, Hunter College, Marymount Manhattan College, The New School, School of Visual Arts. All locations are accessible via public transportation. Plus, we buy books all year round.